January 8, 2019

226,000 square kilometers of municipal waters in the Philippines will now be protected from destructive bottom trawling!

The Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) of the Department of the Interior and Local Governement (DILG) and the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) on the ban on bottom trawl within municipal waters was signed last November 29, 2018.

A great feature of this Circular is its provisions on the decommissioning of trawling gears and livelihood assistance.